Bottles of allulose at a supermarket in Seoul. The sweetener is found naturally in figs, kiwis and other fruits. - Reuters
In South Korea, however, it has caught on more widely and is now easily available in supermarkets for less than 10,000 won per 700 ml bottle. "Allulose isn't the first sugar substitute to make headlines for being the 'best new food product'," said Elizabeth Traxler, a registered dietician at University Hospitals, a US-based academic medical centre.
Earlier this year, it opened a 140 billion won factory that can produce 13,000 tons of allulose annually, more than quadruple its previous output. But the European Union, Canada and other countries view it as a"novel food" that has yet to be sufficiently assessed for safety.